Fury stormed into Bruce Banner's lab, glaring at Tony and Bruce sitting down and staring at a screen. "What are you doing, Mr. Stark?"

"Uh, kind of been wondering the same thing about you." Tony replied evenly.

"You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract."

"We are." Bruce fired back. "The model's locked and we're sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile." Bruce explained, pointing over to his computer doing the research

"Yeah, then you get your cube back. No muss, no fuss." Tony said before a file popped up on the clear screen in front of him. "What is 'Phase 2'?"

With what could only be galactic timing, Zuchino and Steve stormed in as well carrying the HYDRA weapons they'd discovered in the bowels of the Helicarrier. Zuchino, glaring at Fury, slammed his weapon down on the table and said, "Phase 2: S.H.I.E.L.D. uses the Tesseract, an artifact far beyond any Earthling's understanding, to make weapons."

Steve looked over at Tony with a small nod. "Sorry, the computer was moving a little slow for us."

"Rogers, Zuchino, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract." Fury said. "This does not mean that we're making…."

"I'm sorry, Nick!" Tony cut in, turning his monitor around to show weapon blueprints that described using the Tesseracts's power to create missiles. "What were you lying?"

"I was wrong, Director." Steve said as Thor and Natasha joined them. "The world hasn't changed a bit."

Bruce looked over at Natasha, obviously confused about what was happening. "Did you know about this?"

"You want to think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?" Natasha recommended, moving closer.

"I was in Calcutta. I was pretty well removed."

"Loki is manipulating you."

"And you've been doing what exactly?"

"You didn't come here because I batted my eyelashes at you."

"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy." Bruce fired back before he pointed to the screen. "I'd like to know why S.H.I.E.L.D. is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."

"Yes, I would also like to know why as well." Zuchino crossed his arms and glared at Fury. "Fury, explain…now!"

"Because of you two." Fury pointed at Thor and Zuchino.

"Us?" Thor asked.

"When Zuchino arrived, we learned of universal organizations that seek to purge planets for profit and beings that have more than enough to destroy our planet without us being to put a single fight. Then last year, Earth had another visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We not only learned, but we were shown that we are not alone and we are hopelessly, hilariously outgunned."

"My people want nothing but peace with your planet." Thor countered.

"But you're not the only people out there, are you? Who knows if the Planet Trade Organization or one of the other empires, Furons, Irkens, Skrulls, any of them decided to claim this planet?"

"Don't bring that into this." Zuchino shot back. "All of those organizations are nowhere near powerful enough to defeat me at normal power, let alone a Super Saiyan. I've explained that to you countless times."

"And what if you were to turn on us?"

"Me?"

"You were a planetary threat to many during your time with the Freeza Force. What happens when you suddenly decide to revert back to your old habits?"

"How dare you." Zuchino growled, a faint aura forming around him as he took a step towards him. "I've told you I came here to escape the Planet Trade Organization, but I would defend your world in exchange for asylum. If I wanted to destroy Earth at any point during these two years, don't you think I would've done it already?"

"And what if the PTO offers you a place back and you leave or worse, you take up the deal to purge this planet of all intelligent life? You still need to be monitored; you may even need to be controlled." Zuchino let out a laughing scoff at the proposal.

"Like you controlled the cube?" Steve cut in.

"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki and all of his allies to the planet." Thor added. "It is a signal to everyone, from the Freeza Force to Loki, that the Earth ready for a higher form of warfare."

"A higher form?" Steve asked.

"That Earth is ready to become a part of the universal order, a part of the groups who want to decimate and subjugate every world they can; something that, judging from how Fury still views me as a threat, is far from the truth." Zuchino explained, sighing and running a hand through his hair.

"You both forced our hand. We had to come up with something." Fury explained.

"A nuclear deterrent." Tony deduced. "Because that always calms everything right down."

"Remind me again how you got so rich, Stark."

"I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck deep…" Steve started.

"Hold on. How is this now about me?" Tony cut in.

"I'm sorry, isn't everything?" Steve shot back.

"Don't start this shit again." Zuchino warned, glaring at the both of them.

"I thought humans were more evolved than this." Thor expressed with a glare.

"Excuse me, did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?" Fury barked back.

"You treat your champions with such mistrust." Thor criticized.

"Are you boys really that naïve?" Natasha hopped in. "S.H.I.E.L.D. monitors potential threats."

"Captain America's on threat watch?" Bruce asked in disbelief.

"We all are!"

"Wait, you're on that list?" Tony asked Steve. "Are you above or below angry bees?"

"Stark, so help me God, if you make one more wisecrack…" Steve growled.

"Threat! Verbal threat! I feel threatened." Tony called out.

"Show some respect!" Steve barked back as Tony gave him a bemused glare.

"Respect what?" Tony questioned.

"HUMANS!" Zuchino bellowed with a flare of his golden aura, blasting papers around the room at the force of his anger. All the mass arguing immediately ceased as Zuchino turned to Fury with a bitter look. "You can blather of your control from now until the the heat death of the universe Fury, but all I'm seeing is chaos."

"That's his MO, isn't it?" Bruce prodded as all eyes turned to him. "I mean, what are we, a team? No, we're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're a time bomb."

"You need to step away." Fury said.

"Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?" Tony questioned, placing a hand on Steve's shoulder.

"You know damn well why. Back off!" Steve slapped Tony's arm from him with a glare.

"I'm starting to want you to make me." Tony threatened.

"Yeah, big man in a suit of armor." Steve stated, walking around Tony while a looking down at him. "Take that off, what are you?"

"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist." Tony retorted, turning to glare at Steve in his eyes.

"Now is not the time for this." Zuchino barked, snapping his head towards them. However, he was ignored as Steve took a step closer to Tony.

"I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play…to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you."

"I think I would just cut the wire." Tony suggested as Steve gave a sarcastic smile while looking away.

"Always a way out. You may not be a threat but you better stop pretending to be a hero."

"A hero? Like you? You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle." Tony said getting closer.

"Guys!" Zuchino growled, his aura slowly fading into view around him as his jaw clenched.

"Put on the suit. Let's go a few rounds." Steve suggested, shoving Tony's shoulder.

"I won't even need the suit; I'll kick your ass right here." Tony retorted before pushing Steve's shoulder and Steve's fists immediately tightened.

"Damn it, I said fucking STOP!" Zuchino roared, telekinetically gripping the two men and throwing them to opposite sides of the lab. "Can we stop this dumb dick-measuring contest already?!"

Taking advantage of the silence, Fury turned to Natasha. "Agent Romanoff, would you escort Dr. Banner back to his…."

"Where?" Bruce quipped. "You rented my room."

Fury said, "The cell was just in case…."

"In case you need to kill me. But you can't. I know. I tried." Everyone in the room was dead silent at the admission. Even Bruce was silent as he tried to figure it out. "I got low; I didn't see an end. So, I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out. So I moved on, I focused on helping other people. I was good…until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk. You want to know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You want to know how I stay calm?"

Natasha's and Fury's hands went down to their guns while a red ball of ki sparked to life in Zuchino's hand. "Bruce…" Zuchino warned. "Please put down the scepter." As Bruce looked down at it in his hand and started to calm down, the computer began a frantic beeping.

"Got it." Tony confirmed.

"Sorry kids, you don't get to see my little party trick after all." Bruce muttered as he walked over to the computer. Zuchino followed him over to it and watched as the scientist input commands.

"Located the Tesseract?" Thor asked.

"I can get there faster." Tony challenged as Zuchino let out a loud "Hah."

"I'm fastest." He stated, waiting for the coordinates.

"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard," he informed, "no human is a match for it."

"Which qualifies me even more." Zuchino stated as Bruce pulled out the coordinates, leaving the duo stunned. Tony turned to leave before Steve grabbed his arm, stopping.

"You're not going alone." Steve said.

"Guys." Zuchino muttered.

"You're gonna stop me?" Tony asked.

"Guys." Bruce tried.

"Put on the suit, let's find out." Steve demanded.

"Guys." He said a bit louder, gaining everyone's attention, except Steve and Tony.

"I'm not afraid to hit an old man." Tony warned.

"Put on the suit." Steve repeated before a ball of ki flew between them, gaining their attention.

"What the hell was that for?" Tony angrily asked, looking back at the Saiyan.

"Can we focus?!" Zuchino shouted just as an explosion rocked the Hellicarrier jerked. The fire erupted from the floor, throwing everyone back. Natasha and Bruce fell through the front window. Fury and Thor both fell to the side while Zuchino, Steve, and Tony fell in a heap other near the door. They were the first ones to rise and quickly examined the situation.

"Put on the suit." Steve commanded.

"Yep." Tony agreed Zuchino and Steve followed him out of the door.

"Hill!" Fury's voice sounded through their earpieces as the trio continued their way down to the armory.

"External detonation. Number three engine is down!" Maria explained. Can they get it running? Talk to me?"

"Turbine looks mostly intact, but it's impossible to get out there to make repairs while we're in the air."

"If we lose one more engine, we won't be." Maria said gravely. "Someone's gotta get out there and patch that engine."

"Stark, you copy that?"

"I'm on it." Tony answered as they finally reached the armory. After moving through the crowd of panicked workers, they finally managed to get to the room Tony's suit was being held at.

"Zuchino, I need help down here!" Natasha's voice rang through their earpieces. The trio exchanged a look, shocked that someone like Natasha would sound off for help, let alone that panicked.

"What's going on?" Zuchino asked, confused. An animalistic roar that echoed across the ship gave him the answer. "What the fuck is that…" Then he remembered: Natasha was standing next to Bruce and they both disappeared through the window. "Fuck, I'm on my way." He radioed back before he looked to the duo.

"Do not kill each other." Zuchino commanded to a curt nod from both of them before he zipped off.

After using his scouter to locate the largest energy signature on the ship, Zuchino zipped down to the end of a glass corridor filled with tanks. He heard another roar and turned to see Natasha running down the corridor of glass, the Hulk following closely behind. Zuchino put his hands in front of him, transforming into his Super Saiyan state as a yellow ball of ki quickly sparked to life in his hands.

"Get down!" He shouted to Natasha, who finally saw him and fell to the ground. He fired the beam of ki, that connected with the charging Hulk and blasted him back through a wall. Zuchino flew forward and looked down at Natasha.

"You okay?"

"I'll live." She said as she accepted the hand to get up. Once she was standing, Zuchino zipped through the hole into the indoor hangar. The Hulk stood and glared at the Saiyan with unbridled fury. They circled each other slowly, waiting for one to make the first move. The Hulk decided to act first and reared his fist back for a punch. Before the monster could even throw it forward, Zuchino fired a red ball of ki towards the Hulk. Instead of exploding, it encapsulated the green monster within it and kept him still.

"We are not your enemies, Banner! Try to think!" Zuchino stated before the Hulk burst from the energy ball and savagely punched the shocked Saiyan into a stack of concrete blocks. The Saiyan sat up and wiped the blood from his lip.

"Fury, what am I doing here?" He asked into his scouter.

"Do all you can do to contain him, but do not kill him." Fury instructed as the Saiyan looked up and saw the Hulk roaring at him.

"Copy that." Zuchino said as he emerged and transformed as Thor came from the hole. "Come to help?"

"I thought you may need some." Thor said as he raised his hand and waited while the Hulk began charging towards him from behind. Suddenly, his hammer flew straight into his hand, allowing him to uppercut the Hulk. Zuchino fired a beam of energy into his chest, sending him careening back into the jets in the room. Standing next to each other, they gave a nod before they began running towards the monster.

The Hulk ripped off the right wing off the plane and flung it at them, but Zuchino flung two fingers up, firing an energy wave that sliced the wing in half. Thor threw the hammer towards Hulk, who caught it and was flung back. The Hulk tried to stand up, but his hand was weighed down by the hammer.

Noting that he could lift it off, he began pulling on it to lift it off the ground. His efforts were stopped by Zuchino kneeing him in the face and spin kicking his chest, skidding the monster back. Thor hopped on his back and wrapped his arms and hammer across the monster's neck to subdue him. After flinging him off failed, the Hulk hopped up to the next level.

Zuchino zipped up, but the Hulk grabbed him and slammed his back against the desk, knocking the breath from the Saiyan's lungs. After throwing him down to the ground, the monster finished his assault by harshly kicking him away in the chest, breaking a few ribs. Zuchino flew through the air before rolling on the ground as his transformation cut off. He tried to stand, but the searing pain that shot through his lungs told him not to. He looked over to the Asgardian, but the Hulk threw him next to the Saiyan as well. A jet hovered behind the approaching Hulk before it began opening fire, but seeming to do no damage. Zuchino raised arms, creating a shield in front of himself and Thor.

The Hulk roared before jumping from the window and slamming into the front of the plane, ripping out several of its inner machines before the pilot tried to eject before the Hulk grabbed him. Zuchino fired a beam of energy from his finger, hitting the Hulk and making him throw the pilot away and his seat parachute ejecting.

Both he and Thor looked at each other and sighed a breath of relief.

"Go make sure your brother stays in his cage; I'll go to mission control." Zuchino commanded as Thor nodded and they went their separate ways.

When he finally entered the control room, he walked over to Maria, being attended to by a medical aid.

"Looks like you need it as well." Maria said, but the Saiyan shook his head.

"I'll be fine, I've been through much worse than this."

"Agent Coulson is down." Fury stated through Zuchino's earpiece. Maria waved the aid away as she and Saiyan exchanged a look.

"A medical team is on its way to your location." A voice reassured.

"They're already here…they've called it."